First half of Summer in Alaska 2013

Pete baptized Claire at church.  What an awesome Sunday it was...9 people were baptized.

Swanson family in May.  Soooo glad to have all the kids home.  Plus an extra :)  Our youth pastor's baby decided she wanted in the photo too.

Our new babies.  We hatched these from our own eggs in the 1st grade classroom.

Karl fished (drift netting) on the 'flats' the first few weeks of his summer vacation.  Pete and Lenore drove to Whittier to pick him up for a 3 week mini-summer.  Karl and Pete then flew to Phoenix where Karl bought a brand new WRX.  They had a fun/fast ride back to Alaska!   Karl went down intending to buy his grandpa's old pick up, but it needed a little more work than anticipated.  He will have to buy it later when he has some time to work on it.

The only way in and out of Whittier is through the train tunnel.  It only goes once per hour so we didn't want to miss it.

Two weeks later the girls spent Father's Day at the beach in Homer.  The water was so cold, it literally made your feet go numb!

Whittier, Alaska.

Kerby and boys joined us for our beach fun.

Mom and Claire had a Spit date and enjoyed shopping, walking around, having coffee and dinner out on the Homer Spit.

Karl celebrated his 21st birthday in Homer, Alaska.  Our next door neighbors took Karl and Pete halibut fishing to celebrate.  They came back with about 40 pounds of fish.

Early morning archery practice.  Pete and Lenore are both certified instructors and teach archery at McNeil K-6 (but only to 4-6 graders.)  All three of the kids could hit bull's eyes most of the time.

We finally put our new (to us) boat in the water.  The first round was just at the dock since the steering wouldn't work.  Alas, a new kicker, some W-D 40 and back in the water again.

The Homer Boat Dock.

 Sheldon and Kathy Beachy invited us out for an evening across the bay at Halibut Cover.    We had a great time BBQ ing and enjoying the view.  We were also lucky enough to each catch a King Salmon!  Yum!

 Pete and Lenore took the girls on a weekend camping trip.  First we hiked the 5 mile round trip to Russian River Falls.  We got to watch the reds (salmon) leaping up the falls and enjoy a part of Alaska we had not yet seen.

 After returning from our hike, we loaded up our canoes and paddled across Dolly Varden Lake.  The mosquitoes were out in force.  The only respite was on the water.  Even Kate didn't mind the canoe ride to get out of the bugs.  We had rented a wilderness cabin on the lake.

 My good friend Paula joined us for the 4th of July parade and festivities.  We had a church picnic, parade and then stayed the rest of the evening celebrating with our Small Group at the Briscos.

 Pete finished the new chicken coop.  Whew!  It was several weeks to complete.  It is divided with a swinging door so the baby chicks can 'get used to' the adult hens/rooster.  So far, so good.

 Kirsten and Liz messing around at church.  They both go to sister Nazarene schools, both work at the same place and both wore turquoise pants to church!

 We enjoyed a few more days camping at Hidden Lake with the Taylor family.  We brought canoes, played games, had fires, rode scooters and went swimming.  We even saw a mama black bear with 3 little baby cubs.

 Pete takes a needed 'rest stop' before the final portage to the lake.

The view from our canoes from the middle of the lake.  You can see the tiny dock on the far shore.

Next, we head to Idaho for the Stonoff family annual retreat and a little white water rafting on the Salmon river.  We hope you are enjoying your summer and look forward to hearing about yours as well.  2nd half of Summer to come!

Spring in Alaska

Spring in Alaska still means snow!  We were blessed to have Robert and Shelley Miller's family (our cousins) come to Alaska for spring break!

 We visited the Ninilchick Russian Orthodox church.

 Claire, Logan and Sig en route.

 The cousins!

The Miller family at the lookout point.

 Claire and Logan

Karl and Logan

Fresh snow.  Perfect for riding.

 We spent many hours riding snow machines all over Caribou Hills AND many gallons of fuel!  We are so thankful that our cousins came to Alaska!

 An overnight at the Snomad Palace..snow machine in only.

 A welcomed dinner at Fat Olives in Homer.  Time to relax and eat pizza.

 Family cross-country skiing at McNeil trails.

 Pete and Lenore enjoying the ski trails at McNeil.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the Swanson Family!

We wish all of you a great an awesome year of joy, health and friendship.  May this year fill you with all hope and faith in Christ Jesus!  We got our Christmas card photos out late because we had to wait for our college kids to get home for the holidays.  We have loved having both Karl (from UAF - Fairbanks) and Kirsten (PLNU - San Diego, CA) home for a few weeks.  We also had a host of company, Uncles Bruce and John, Grandpa and Grandma Swanson, Tia Lupe Swanson, Britt and Pat Moore, The Taylor family, Ben and Liz Haunschild, and Megan Kirsis!  We hope you enjoy a brief look through the past few months.

 All the professional photos in this blog were taken by Megan Lyon Photography.

 Pete continues to be the principal at McNeil Canyon Elementary School, elder at Christian Community Church, hunter gatherer, snow machine rider, reader, home repair technician, you get the idea!

Lenore is still teaching K-6 Music/PE/2nd grade at McNeil.  She is still working on her MAT (M.A. of Arts in Teaching), still teaches high school Sunday School, and still participates in leading worship at church..

We host a small group on Sunday nights for parents with young children.  We are studying the Bible via storytelling.  When everyone is here, we have 12 adults and 12 children.  Claire babysits during the study.

 Claire was in the Nutcracker this Winter and is currently skiing on the Homer High School ski team.  She is a freshman this year is a part of student government. So far she has straight A's.

Kirsten loves Point Loma Nazarene University (where both Pete and Lenore graduated).  She has already been in a Musical, an Opera (The Merry Widow) and many other musical concerts.  She is in a sacred small singing group, a Jazz choir, and a regular choir.  She takes both voice and piano as well.  She is pursuing majors in both Vocal Performance and Physics.  She works part time as an personal assistant/babysitter for the CO's wife at Mirimar Marine Corps base.

 Karl is in his 3rd year at UAF in the Honors Mechanical Engineering program.  He is currently pursuing the Navy Nuclear Sub Engineering program.  He will find out in early Spring if he gets in.  If he qualifies, he will go through the OCS (Officer Candidate School) at the completion of his degree at UAF.  He spends all his vacation time snow machining here at home.

 The kids had fun messing around during our photo shoot for our Christmas photos!

 Auntie Britt had fun during our photo shoot as well.  It was a little cold though, around 5 degrees.

 Claire decided for the first time to audition for the Nutcracker ballet.  She took lessons when she was younger but had never participated in the show.  She was cast in "Snow", "Flower" and "Spanish".  She had so much fun she may be in it again next year.

 Although the garden didn't do super well due to the constant rain this past summer, the greenhouse and porch plants were happy!

Angel Kathy helped out at McNeil for the Fall Carnival.  Lenore was Freya, Thor's mother (Viking)

Pete was a good sport and let the kids throws whipping cream pies at him.

 Claire turned 14 this past October.  She got her permit on the first try.  In Alaska kids can drive with a permit at 14.  Perhaps it gives them extra practice during the 'ice season'.